tutorial · Grey Nicholsonhttps://gkn.me.uk/entries/tutorialGrey Nicholsonhttps://gkn.me.uk/style/icon.svg2025-10-21T12:11:00+00:00A Quick Vignette, Using the Gimphttps://gkn.me.uk/quickvignette2007-11-11T12:18:00+00:002009-02-20T13:37:00+00:00A brief tutorial.
<p>It's easy to fade out the edges of a picture using the <abbr title="Gnu Image Manipulation Program">Gimp</abbr>. Here's how: (using Gimp version 2.4)
</p>
<ol>
<li>Decide how broad you want the fade to be
</li>
<li>From the menu, <kbd><kbd><samp>Layer</samp></kbd> → <kbd><samp>Transparency</samp></kbd> → <kbd><samp>Add Alpha Channel</samp></kbd></kbd>; if this option is disabled (greyed out), then the current layer already has transparency enabled and you can skip this step
</li>
<li>From the menu, <kbd><kbd><samp>Select</samp></kbd> → <kbd><samp>All</samp></kbd></kbd>, or on the keyboard, <kbd><kbd>Ctrl</kbd>+<kbd>A</kbd></kbd>
</li>
<li>
<kbd><kbd><samp>Select</samp></kbd> → <kbd><samp>Shrink</samp></kbd></kbd>
</li>
<li>Shrink the selection by <em>half</em> the breadth you chose earlier, ensuring that <samp>Shrink from image border</samp> is ticked
</li>
<li>
<kbd><kbd><samp>Select</samp></kbd> → <kbd><samp>Feather</samp></kbd></kbd>
</li>
<li>Feather the selection by the <em>full</em> breadth you chose earlier
</li>
<li>
<kbd><kbd><samp>Select</samp></kbd> → <kbd><samp>Invert</samp></kbd></kbd> or <kbd><kbd>Ctrl</kbd>+<kbd>I</kbd></kbd>
</li>
<li>
<kbd><kbd><samp>Edit</samp></kbd> → <kbd><samp>Clear</samp></kbd></kbd> or <kbd><kbd>Delete</kbd></kbd>
</li>
</ol>
<p>If you want to fade to a solid colour rather than transparency, skip the final step and instead use the <strong>Bucket Fill Tool</strong> with the <strong>Affected Area</strong> set to <kbd><samp>Fill whole selection</samp></kbd>.
</p>